What should our Indian films really be about?
By sritrinity
@sritrinity (629)
India
July 26, 2009 2:45am CST
All the Indian films (bar a very few) are always about romance and then more romance and then some more. These films have conditioned are youth to believe that this is what life is all about, and so when their relationship breaks or doesn't work out, they want to die.....there is no other goal or sense of purpose....the suicide rate is out of hand amongst the youth. One student kils himself every 15 minutes in India!!!!!!
I believe that we have millions of heroes in India from time immemorial. but when our film makers tackle such films they put too much emphasis on the costly sets and the acting is quite crap.
We need to demand better acting in such films to truly do justice to what these heroes really represented. By Heroes I mean: Subhash Chandra Bose, Saravar, Jansi Ki Rani, Swami Vivekananda......I'm sure you know many more than me.
Take slum Dog Millionare for example, it wasn't exactly a high budget movie.....the scenes were real life scenes, the kid superstars where really from the slums. What made that film was not the little romantic play between the teenagers.....but the little kids and the real life poverty awareness that it brought to the cinema with a genuine care and concern. The actual baseline of the film was altruistic, and this becomes more apparent when you see the previous films of Danny Boyle such as "Millions". It takes just a very simple man with an honest heart to direct such a wonderful film. Slum dog has now opened a fund and has started to raise alot of money for the slums in Mumbai itself.
Why can't we Indians do such films! Why is it the westerners who do it...we can't say its because they have a bigger budget.....because Slum Dog has proved that this is not the case.
Infact most of our Indian films spend way more on their showoff sets then Slum Dog has done.
I want to see a great trilogy on Swami Vivekananda's life and mission, which has been researched thoroughly and with a great vision to inspire our youth, it should be done with raw emotion such as that seen in Erin Brockovich for example.
I am sick of seeing films Like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter which have no historical validity and I am sick of our Indian films which do nothing to inspire our youth....I'm not watching them anymore.....I'm on strike......if all the youth went on strike from these films.....then there could be a change....our film makers would be forced to stop feeding us this crap and actually give us something that we really deserve to have....we must not be satisfied to watch this crap anymore!
What does the suicide rate in India amongst the students go to before we do something about it....now to remind you it's at one in every 15 MINUTES....
1 person likes this
4 responses
@chetan_hotshot (72)
• India
3 Aug 09
ya u r right. filmakers should make conceptual movie which can bring out a big movement in india.. but, u should know dat dere are very few people who wants to see conceptual movie. like u can see d records swadesh, magal pandey, etc were d flop movie. dere r very few people who thinks like u.
slumdog was a good effort but did u see after dat how much change has come to india, govt is not even providing a reasonable home to the stars of slumdog n how much slums have been reduced. but, it doesn't mean dat filmmakers should not make movie like slumdog.
actually, when a new person see a different thing somewhere he presents or tells everyone like he has seen a wonder but it is actually usual to people who r seeing it daily. like indian filmmakers finds foreign culture different dats why dey makes movie related to their culture like kambakkht ishq. but when foreign filmmakers looks at india they find india's slums different dats why dey create movie like slumdog.
actually indian filmmakers r regularly familiar with the culture of india dats why dey find nothing different in india.
but few filmmakers r making really conceptual movie like madhur bhandarkar- fashion, page3, traffic signal,etc. ashutosh gowarikar n sanjay bhansali r also making efforts in dis direction. n now even karan johar also trying to make conceptual movie like 'my name is khan'.
but u can't say dat harry potter, narnia, lord of the rings r not good movie. dey have deir own values n in my view dey were d best movie....
but it is d best time to make conceptual movie coz india in dis time is growing really very very fast n people r looking for d movies like a wednesday, chak de india.. i m also hoping for realistic movies... n thanks to write discussion on this topic...
@chetan_hotshot (72)
• India
1 Sep 09
exactly u r rite dat slums r allover the world but what doesn't happen in slums other than india is like making blind to the children and after that forcing them for begging money and this is what attracted danny boyel. i m not saying dat indian slums attracts the hollywood director, i m sayin dat what happens in the slums attracts more the director.
n let me tell u it is the time where the whole india is developing n all the indians more than age group of 30 n 40 have seen many many troubles n problems facing this country so, now they don't want to see a underdeveloped india but dey want to see a new india which is developin n going to become developed in some time. n all the indians below the age group of 30, they have never seen underdeveloped india n they don't want to see or read about underdeveloped india..
so the point is conceptual movie should be made to create awareness but the fact is dat no indian want to see it, n only some intrested people like u watches that movie.
one reality i want to tell u dat 1 day before realeasing of the movie slumdog nobody was talking about that movie in india n u can see the box office collection of first week of that movie in india n as it was announced after 1 week that slumdog is nominated for oscar, the box office collection raised.
so the fact is before announcing for oscar, nobody was intrested in slumdog n after that everybody involved in that. hence it shows no indian is intrested in watching conceptual movie because this india is now developin not underdeveloped, then why any director or producer is going to waste money in making a conceptual movie. but it doesn't stop them doing so, a patriotic movie called 'y.m.i.' released some days before. what happened to that movie, i think u haven't heared the name of this movie. it was a flop but movies like 'love aaj kal' r making history.
so directors r making movies like slumdog but no one watches them until they come to know that it was nominated for oscar or some other awards.....
@chetan_hotshot (72)
• India
7 Sep 09
their impression is niether numb nor non caring, but of relaxation dat dey r not in dat hell where india was. n now dey don't want to see n listen about dat hell.
so i think at dat time when india was underdeveloped, many films created to get rid out of dat underdeveloped india n build a new india called developing.
but now what is needed is to make developin india to developed india coz problems are changing now n u can see that around urself.
for example- before there were problems of child marriage but now problems r transformed to gay marriages. n many disscussions are helding on gay marriage issue in india's media. it shows that india is now developing....
@sritrinity (629)
• India
4 Sep 09
Wow Chetan, I am so grateful for your feedback! Thank you sooo much for taking the time to share your knowledge and point of view. I will deliberate upon it.
You know you said that people under 30 hardly know about underdeveloped India....because such films are just not made and so they don't have awareness. When these Indians under 30 eventually do see awareness films, then what is their impression? Is it a numb non caring one, or a shocked, sad and angry one?
@riani2009 (581)
• Indonesia
6 Aug 09
I like Indian film especially the dancing and the songs and also the themes of the film. Hmmm, I agree the violence should be decreased in Indian movie. Because violence creates violence. I think the theme should be about love, comedy, and romance. There are lot of movies I like most from these theme such as Kuch Kuch Ho ta Hei.. (Sorry if I write it mistakenly). The idealism of producers should be increased without paying too much on material matter.
@riani2009 (581)
• Indonesia
31 Aug 09
I like Cut Nya Dien movie, G 30 S/PKI, Serangan Fajar.. well, all is about Indonesia movie. They tell about Indonesia stugles for its independence.
@sritrinity (629)
• India
30 Aug 09
Yes I agree that the idealism should be increased without paying too much attention on the material matter.
What type of Historical films would you like to see more of?
@meapas (2436)
• India
26 Jul 09
It should be educative, informative and entertaining and should pass a message to the youth.
@shravandone (555)
• India
29 Jul 09
indian cinema is more of market driven rather than ethics...its the case with world cinema either.
first of all wgich section of youth watch cinema.i think 90% of uth in cinema are un oriented time pass chaps.the truely inspired n focus studs have nothin to do in a cinema hall.so cinema hall focuses on the ppl enterin it and try to satisfy them.
as u said if a trilogy is made on swami vivekananda it gets considered as some documentary and i doubt even if it gets released....
things are quite hopeless mam...cinema degrades itself to the people rather than upgrade people to heights...
@sritrinity (629)
• India
4 Aug 09
Yeah sure world cinema is market driven, but the world audience DOES demand a higher standard!!!!Why can't we?
Meaning to say that we CAN demand a higher standard, simply by boycotting. It's a consumer driven market based on demand. If we start demanding something better then it will be given. Thats how things improve!
It's the films with great REALISTIC moral fibre and damn good acting that reach huge success in the west mostly.
Our films would never be accepted on mass there. So why do we put up with them?
I don't think a film on Swami Vivekananda would be classed as a documentary if it was made right. I'm sure if someone in the west set their minds to it, they could make it a hit....like the film Gandhi was. Gandhi was not and is not classed as a documentary.
quote: "Cinema degrades itself to the people rather than upgrades people to heights".....like I said it's a consumer driven industry based on demand, if we boycotted these films....the film industry would be forced to better themselves.....we actually have the power in our hands.
Bollywood and co, keep putting out these films because there is a demand for them, if the demand stopped and changed...then they would be forced to comply. It's simple really.
Also I disagree that the only truly inspired youth focus on studies. Inspiration comes in many forms, studying is not the only outlet.
Also realistically speaking the ones who do nothing but sit in their rooms and study are very much in the minority, mostly everyone needs some type of rest and rescreational activities, so why not give them something useful.
